Miss Belgium in tears over boycott

Miss Belgium burst into tears after a public clash with two rival beauty queens over plans to boycott the Miss World pageant in Nigeria to protest human rights abuses. Beauty queens from half a dozen countries have threatened to boycott the December pageant unless Nigeria overturns an Islamic court ruling condemning a woman to death by stoning for adultery. The row erupted at Brussels news conference when Miss Belgium Ann Van Elsen took issue with Miss Sweden and Miss Italy for saying they were opposed to the boycott. "I don’t really agree with you when you say (boycotting) a beauty contest doesn’t really have any effect," said the petite, raven-haired Van Elsen. "To organise a beauty pageant in a country where the rights of women are not respected should not happen this year or in the future," she said. Miss Italy Pamela Camassa and Miss Sweden Sofia Hedmark promised to go to Nigeria despite the court sentence, which is now in appeal. The three beauty queens made the appearance in support of human rights group Hands Off Cain, which launched a report on the death penalty. The group opposes capital punishment but says it is against a boycott of the Miss World pageant because Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken out against the death penalty. Van Elsen, who was in tears at the end of the event, said she had no idea about the group’s position on the boycott. "I was wrongly informed by my organisation about the reasons why I was coming here," said Van Elsen. "Every year contestants say they are for world peace, but I’m not sure if it has any effect. The chance that I can really say something during the pageant is really small," she said. "I think I will have a much more powerful effect (if I boycott the contest).